The present invention relates to a door weather strip that is attached to the outer periphery of a door of a vehicle and seals the gap between the outer periphery of the door and the peripheral edge of an opening of the body of the vehicle when the opening is closed by the door.
Openings for boarding and exiting are formed in the body of a vehicle. Such openings are selectively opened and closed by doors. A door weather strip is attached to the outer periphery of the door to seal the gap between the outer periphery of the door and the peripheral edge of the opening at the time the opening is closed by the door. The door weather strip includes an extruded portion, which is formed by extrusion, and a molded portion, which is formed by molding using a mold. The extruded portion is a portion that is attached to a linear section of the outer periphery of the door, such as an upper edge and a vertical edge. The extruded portion includes an extruded hollow sealing portion. The molded portion is a portion that is attached to a corner between the upper edge and the vertical edge of the outer periphery of the door.
A door weather strip disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-314683 has a molded portion that is preferable for attachment to a lower rear corner of the outer periphery of a front door.
As shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, a molded portion 71 of a door weather strip 70 includes an attachment base 72, an extension 73, and a molded hollow sealing portion 74. The attachment base 72 configures an inner periphery of the molded portion 71 and is attached to the lower rear corner of a front door. The extension 73 extends from the attachment base 72 to the outer peripheral side. The molded hollow sealing portion 74 is formed in the outer periphery of the extension 73. A hollow portion 75 in the molded hollow sealing portion 74 communicates with a hollow portion 82 in an extruded hollow sealing portion 81 of each adjacent extruded portion 78. An insert member 77 is embedded in the region between the attachment base 72 and the molded hollow sealing portion 74 in the extension 73.
A slit 76, through which an inner core 83 (represented by the long dashed double-short dashed lines in FIG. 17) for forming a hollow portion is removed, is formed in a section in which the molded hollow sealing portion 74 is continuous with the extension 73. To avoid interference between the inner core 83 and the insert member 77 at the time of removing the inner core 83, the slit 76 is formed in a section on the outer side of the vehicle (the side corresponding to the front door, the left side as viewed in FIG. 17). A clip attachment hole 84 extends through the attachment base 72.
When the front door is closed, the molded hollow sealing portion 74 of the door weather strip 70 is pressed against the lower rear section of the peripheral edge of the opening to seal the gap between the lower rear corner of the front door and the lower rear section of the peripheral edge. The stiffness of the region between the attachment base 72 and the molded hollow sealing portion 74 in the extension 73 is improved by the insert member 77. The molded hollow sealing portion 74 is pressed against the lower rear section of the peripheral edge of the opening by great force. Sealing performance is thus improved.
The molded portion 71 of the above-described configuration may be employed as a molded portion attached to the rear upper corner of the outer periphery of the front door, which corresponds to the joint portion between the roof and the corresponding pillar of the vehicle body.
The surface of the peripheral edge of the opening of the vehicle body against which the molded hollow sealing portion 74 is pressed must be formed as a smooth surface to achieve a high sealing performance.
On the other hand, the aforementioned peripheral edge is formed by subjecting the body panel to drawing. A section close to both the roof and the pillar of the vehicle body in the upper rear section of the peripheral edge tends to be distorted easily compared with other sections. The section is thus difficult to smoothen through drawing.
Therefore, if the molded portion 71 disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-314683 is simply employed as the molded portion attached to the upper rear corner of the front door, the molded hollow sealing portion 74 is pressed against a non-smooth section of the upper rear section of the aforementioned peripheral edge. A high sealing performance is thus hard to achieve.
If the molded hollow sealing portion 74 is arranged in a section spaced from the extended end of the extension 73 to the inner peripheral side in the upper rear corner of the front door, the molded hollow sealing portion 74 is pressed against a smooth section of the upper rear section of the aforementioned peripheral edge to achieve high sealing performance. However, the insert member 77 crosses the molded hollow sealing portion 74. The insert member 77 thus interferes with removal of the inner core 83 from the molded hollow sealing portion 74, hampering the removal of the inner core 83.
If the insert member 77 does not cross the molded hollow sealing portion 74, the insert member 77 is unlikely to interfere with removal of the inner core 83, thus facilitating the removal of the inner core 83. However, since the insert member 77 is not embedded in a section on the outer peripheral side with respect to the molded hollow sealing portion 74 in the extension 73, the stiffness of this section is small. As a result, pressing the section against the upper rear section of the peripheral edge becomes difficult, thus hampering improvement of sealing performance.
A similar problem may occur to a molded portion arranged in the upper front corner in a door weather strip attached to the outer periphery of a rear door. Also in this upper front corner, a section close to both the roof and the corresponding pillar of the vehicle body tends to be distorted easily compared to other sections. The section is thus difficult to smoothen through drawing.